* Michel Foucault: Critiqued the modern conception of power on the basis of the prison complex and other prohibitive institutions, such as those that designate sexuality, madness and knowledge as the roots of their infrastructure, a critique which then demonstrated that subjection is the power formation of subjects in any linguistic forum and that revolution cannot just be thought as the reversal of power between classes.

Born into a middle-class family in Poitiers, Foucault was educated at the Lycée Henri-IV and then the École Normale Supérieure, where he developed a keen interest in philosophy and came under the influence of his tutors Jean Hyppolite and Louis Althusser.

Hyppolite devoted his energies to uniting the existentialist theories then in vogue among French philosophers with the dialectical theories of Hegel and Karl Marx ( 1818 – 1883 ); these ideas influenced the young Foucault, who would adopt Hyppolite's conviction that philosophy must be developed through a study of history.

In the summer of 1983, he noticed that he had a persistent dry cough ; friends in Paris became concerned that he may have contracted the HIV / AIDS virus then sweeping the San Francisco gay population, but Foucault insisted that he had nothing more than a pulmonary infection that would clear up when he spent the autumn of 1983 in California.

Foucault then inquires how such a change in French society's punishment of convicts could have developed in such a short time.

Foucault proceeds to examine how the confession of sexuality then came to be " constituted in scientific terms ", arguing that scientists began to trace the cause of all aspects of human psychology and society to sexual factors.

In the second and third volumes of The History of Sexuality, namely, The Use of Pleasure ( 1984 ) and The Care of the Self ( 1984 ), and in his lecture on " Technologies of the Self " ( 1982 ), Foucault elaborated a distinction between subjectivation and forms of subjectification by exploring how selves were fashioned and then lived in ways which were both heteronomously and autonomously determined.

The dildo was academically analyzed in a paper presented at the 1995 Bowling Green State University Conference in Cultural Studies: Lesbian Pornography and Transformation: Foucault, Bourdieu, and de Certeau Make Sense of the Jeff Stryker Dildo, by Mary T. Conway, then a graduate student at Temple University.

He also co-authored Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics, translated Merleau-Ponty's Sense and Non-Sense, and authored the controversial 1972 book What Computers Can't Do, revised first in 1979, and then again in 1992 with a new introduction as What Computers Still Can't Do.

" The problem for Foucault is in some sense a theoretical modeling which posits a soul, an identity ( the use of soul being fortunate since ' identity ' or ' name ' would not properly express the method of subjection — e. g., if mere materiality were used as a way of tracking individuals then the method of punishment would not have switched from torture to psychiatry ) which allows a whole materiality of prison to develop.

Foucault then goes on further to investigate what was the reasoning behind this modern biopolitical state racism.

Unfortunately, from the classical standpoint investigative work is viewed upon as having difficulty to interpret ; data with no end product isolating power and then man, as either in a position of interpretation by the classical theorists as the final conclusion or man having anthropological characteristics with ancient relic features borrowed from the Pleistocene era which have never altered with additional evolutionary, cultural and biological salient features rather than having a real historical and social character involved. Or to investigate critically this power, with man and his involvement with his interactions with the environment making it impossible to have any rigorous explanation or conclusions. Political systems, or knowledge systems in general, from the classical perspective, become too large to be comprehended interpreting the environment of man as an anachronism ; information and data produced surrounding man as poorly understood viewing historical information as having no, or absence of history. Obviously from the classical point of view, modern research methods ( all from " Social sciences, Sociology, Humanities ") cannot be used to penetrate observation leaving gaps in our knowledge and an accepted taken for granted approach to any analysis. Foucault views this as the exact opposite of rational analysis, with its operations ( power ) as nothing more than a series of contingencies and networks.

Foucault then develops a holistic account of power and uses methods not too dissimilar to the astonishing and outstanding Medieval Islamic polymaths scholars Alhazen, Ibn Sīnā, and Ibn Khaldūn and to a lesser extant prominent science figures from 20th century science such as ; Gregory Bateson, James Lovelock ( the founder of Gaia hypothesis ) and Robert N. Proctor ( Proctor who coined the term Agnotology ) and urges us to think outside the box of this new kind of power, therefore, opening up the possibilities of further investigations into this new perceived, impenetrable nature of biopower and according to Foucault he asks us to remember, this type of power is never neutral nor is it independent from the rest of society but are embedded within society functioning as embellished ' control technology ' specifics. Foucault argues ; nation states, police, government, legal practices, human sciences and medical institutions have their own rationale, cause and effects, strategies, technologies, mechanisms and codes and have managed successfully in the past to obscure there workings by hiding behind observation and scrutiny.

Although Michel Foucault is the name primarily associated with the concept of biopower and bio-politics, the term Biopolitics was in fact used tentatively in 1911 when the magazine The New Age published the article " Biopolitics " by G. W. Harris and then reused in 1938 by Morley Roberts ( 1857 – 1942 ) in his book Biopolitics.

Foucault then offers from his lectures his conclusions from both the schools of thought of the twentieth century from this time ; neo-liberalism, German ordoliberalism ( the Freiburg School ) and the Chicago school ( sociology ).

Foucault then takes on the concept into a different direction by positioning it between biological processes, the control of human populations through political means ; government, management and Social organization ; through work, the labor force and the ruthless efficiency of the organization of money through the International monetary systems of whole human populations ( bio ) and politics ( polis ), this is essentially Foucault's meaning of biopolitics ; human biology and its amalgamation with politics.

Foucault then situates liberalism's take on society where liberalism sees the state and society as a societal organism ( neoliberalism never mentions it in any of their narratives nor is it ever mentioned by name as it is automatically assumed by liberalism that state organization was automatically, ingrained in the human psyche in the guise of an invisible organic whole called the body politic, where all humans are involved regardless of their class position ) capable of producing, multiplying, reproducing and if necessary, having a destructive capability.

The industrial working population which comprises the overwhelming majority of human populations anywhere in the world, in a wider context unwittingly there must be at least seen, essentially a systematic position however clandestinely operated, without disruption taking place of economic productivity and activity which still has to take place in a smooth, transitory and unfussy way this then takes on a new meaning Foucault offers us a chilling reminder of those who take part, through no fault of their own, in this involuntary naive complicity he introduces to us the concept of Homo economicus ( economic man )

Foucault then briefly touches on B F Skinner ; ( the founder of radical behaviorism ), and Robert Castel but unfortunately it is very brief however, in Foucault's defence, he himself does admit ' there is little literature ' available in France on these techniques, however, to be critical, Foucault did belong to the most prestigious academic institutions in Europe ( Collège de France ) with unprecedented access to many journals in France and it would be unlikely that they would be unavailable to him.

It is clear then that any standard neuroscience journal will show you this, it is not the body but the mind, as is often thought by Foucault and the postmodernism movement, both thought that the body ( not the mind ), an often repeated mistake a simple mistake, but a crucial one.

Foucault then reads into Robert Castel's work ; The Psychiatric Order, an essential read according to Foucault, where the techniques were finally finalised during the 18th century of this absolute global project which was directed towards the whole of society.

Foucault further notices that political economy had a new tool called statistics founded by the Physiocrats economists ( another term for scientific government ) and it is with François Quesnay that this process can be found the very notion of economic government.

Foucault notices that the pastorate community were swamped with everyday life of individuals where it took charge of a whole series of questions and problem concerning material life, property, education of children.

Foucault then notices a point of departure pointing out the idea of sedition and revolt starts to enter texts, but ' the people ' proved elusive to define all around Europe, and never entered popular discussion, at first point of juncture was the privileged titled nobles appointed and rewarded through the honors system created by the monarch and sanctioned through the legal system of the day ; the entire nobility: Knights, Lords, count's, barons, dukes, earl's and their rivals began to become seen and known as ' the people '.

Foucault notices that entire treatise were devoted to the very notion of coup d ' état, for example a text written in 1639 by Gabriel Naude, entitled Considerations sur les coups d ' etat and writing in 1631 Foucault sites Jean Sirmond Le Coup d ’ Estat de Louis XIII.

This, Foucault notices was William Shakespeare's main intention where the political representation ( modern representation of this is media visual representation of political power, political consultants, image makers ( media consultants ), and ' power politics ' and its constant fixation with voting and leading political personalities ) of the sovereign Henry V for example was a part of historical drama, although based on real people and events, but for all intents and purposes was political representation in the form of plots, intrigues, disgraces, preferences, exclusions, good guys and bad guys and political exiles, where the theatre represents the state itself.

This, Foucault notices produced two consensus correlations namely ; birth of economists, birth of the ‘’ publicistes ’’ known as economy and public opinion the two correlative elements of field of reality that is emerging as the direct correlate of government.

Foucault then notices that this formation of a liberal type of governmentality had general shifts within this circle which can be traced back to the 18th century old or classical liberalism programmed by the Physiocrats, Turgot, and the other economists of the 18th century, for whom the problem was the exact opposite.

However, Foucault notices specific problems began to emerge for neo-liberalism, not only specific to neo-liberalism was how to incorporate civil society, political power ; and Homo oeconomicus into a non-substitutable, irreducible atom of interest.

In his lectures at the Collège de France, Foucault often defines governmentality as the broad art of " governing ," which goes beyond the traditional conception of governance in terms of state mandates, and into other realms such as governing " a household, souls, children, a province, a convent, a religious order, a family ".

The traditional, commonsense view that the key to understanding works of art can be located in the intentions of the author, has been critiqued convincingly by authors such as Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault who emphasise the active role of the viewer / reader in creating meaning in visual and written texts.

For Foucault, Las Meninas contains the first signs of a new episteme, or way of thinking, in European art.

In his lectures at the Collège de France, Foucault often defines governmentality as the " art of government " in a wide sense, i. e. with an idea of " government " that is not limited to state politics alone, that includes a wide range of control techniques, and that applies to a wide variety of objects, from one's control of the self to the " biopolitical " control of populations.

According to Foucault, there are several instances where the Western, " liberal art of government " enters into a period of crisis, where the logic of ensuring freedom ( which was defined against the background of risk or danger ) necessitates actions " which potentially risk producing exactly the opposite.

Foucault then offers rather tentative, slow and at times brilliant analysis of the basic definition of the practices of neo-liberalism art of government.

Limiting the exercise of government power internally, this can mean several meanings, but Foucault concentrates on the monetary aspect of government as a point of concern, frugal government, the art of maximum and a minimum and between the total opposite minimum and maximum.

Governments, Foucault noticed, were compelled to enter this competitive environment, by doing so entering into new regimes of truth with the fundamental effect of reconfiguring all the questions formally beset by the art of government.

Drawing on Michel Foucault ’ s concept of liberal government, Tony Bennett has suggested the development of more modern 19th century museums was part of new strategies by Western governments to produce a citizenry that, rather than be directed by coercive or external forces, monitored and regulated its own conduct.

One of these turned out to be a Polish government agent who hoped to trap Foucault in an embarrassing situation, which would therefore reflect badly on the French embassy.

In the aftermath of 1968, the French government created a new experimental university, Paris VIII, at Vincennes and appointed Foucault the first head of its philosophy department in December of that year.

In 1979 Foucault made two tours of Iran, undertaking extensive interviews with political protagonists in support of the new interim government established soon after the Iranian Revolution.

In his lecture series from 1979 to 1980 Foucault extended his analysis of government to its ' wider sense of techniques and procedures designed to direct the behaviour of men ', which involved a new consideration of the ' examination of conscience ' and confession in early Christian literature.

He was released ( or " expelled ", as the Czechoslovakian government put it ) after the interventions of the Mitterrand government, and the assistance of Michel Foucault, returning to Paris on January 1, 1982.

In his lecture series from 1979 to 1980 Foucault extended his analysis of government to its " wider sense of techniques and procedures designed to direct the behaviour of men ", which involved a new consideration of the " examination of conscience " and confession in early Christian literature.

The second chapter, " Method ", explores what Foucault means by " Power ", explaining that he does not mean power as the domination or subjugation exerted on society by the government or the state, but instead remarks that power should be understood " as the multiplicity of force relations immanent in the sphere in which they operate ".

To fully understand this concept, it is important to realize that in this case, Foucault does not only use the standard, strictly political definition of " governing " or government used today, but he also uses the broader definition of governing or government that was employed until the eighteenth century.

That is to say, that in this case, for Foucault, "...' government ' also signified problems of self-control, guidance for the family and for children, management of the house hold, directing the soul, etc.

The genealogical exploration of the modern state as " problem of government " does not only deepen Foucault ’ s analyses on sovereignty and biopolitics ; it offers an analytics of government which refines both Foucault ’ s theory of power and his understanding of freedom.

This reflects that the term government to Foucault meant not so much the political or administrative structures of the modern state as the way in which the conduct of individuals or of groups may be directed.

Following Michel Foucault, writing on ecogovernmentality focuses on how government agencies, in combination with producers of expert knowledge, construct " The Environment.

Foucault investigates the functioning of the ' obscure ' in history and human society which informs human thought and becomes familiar to humans ( populations ) who have no direct access to say, policy making and policy decisions ( they are excluded ) of government and states which operate as Raison d ' état in ' their ' name and therefore functions as governmental reasoning and society's institutions leaving a functioning civil society as the populations ' truth ' and their ' norm '.